Hi All, How many of you have had the experience of meeting up with a relation that you have'nt seen in over fifty {50} years, well I am having that joyful experience tomorrow when I hope to meet one of my Australian cousins in downtown Toronto,last time I saw him was in 1955 when he was four years old??? and that was in Adelaide South Australia. He now lives in Las Vegas having married an American girl and is an airline pilot with Cathy Pacific, he is flying in to Toronto as a passenger from Los Angles and taking out a CP 747 cargo plane to Anchorage Alaska and on to Hong Kong. Will we have something to talk about or won't we. In other words the craic should be good. Mauri

Mauri, that's terrific news. Your cousin seems to lead an exciting life too. Must be in the family.
Hope you enjoy the craic. Tell us all about it afterwards.

Your going to have a lot of catching up to do, it's a pity you couldnt get a spare seat in the cockpit and get him to drop you of on the way back, However enjoy your day, Ted

Your right Ted, we had a hell of a lot of catching up to do. I'm just in after being in Toronto all day,driving home in the rush hour and having dinner in a restaurant befoe we headed home. It was really something meeting my cousin after all these years, as I said before he was only four years old the last time I saw him, now he is 6'4" tall still has the Australian drawl even though he has lived in the USA for over twenty years. We of course went over the whole family one by one,where they are now,etc, he has even been to Lisburn {which I knew) to visit relatives who are no longer alive. His Father came from the maze, actually St James and went out to Australia in 1928 along with another brother, I used to stay with them now and then when I was out in Australia he still remembered some toys that I had brought him from Japan especially a rather loud police car complete with lights and siren for which his Dad give me good humoured hell as it was so noisy, all in and all a most enjoyable day. Mauri

Will be busy today myself, Mauri, the Kitchen Kween & the Boss are arriving tomorrow for a few days so I will have to smarten up here. The weather is beautiful so we will hopefully be out in the sun although herself tells me she can't walk too much after falling over the cat. I am hoping to go to Bunratty where there is an open day in the Folk Park, Sunday, all the skills will be displayed, home baking etc, should be good. Joe & Dom can sit in Durty Nellies over a few pints, herself can drive home. Looking forward to the w/end & the visitors, hope you all have a good one too.
Pat

From 4 years old to 6ft 4ins it sure puts things into perspective and what happened in between I would say the craig was mighty, glad you had a great day Ted

Hi all, well, that's our weekend arranged.

Hi Mauri,
I grew up at St. James's also, until I moved to the USA.
Did'nt know any of your relatives, but was your uncle's name
"Harry" by any chance, and was he in the millitary?

Sylvia.

Pat & Ann, Hope you two and your husbands have a great time together, should be fun if you haven't seen each other for a while. Mentioning Bunratty brought back memories for me as I have been there a couple of times the last being in 2005 when we done a bus tour of the South and our last stop being Bunratty Castle where we had dinner and entertainment which included a rendering of "Danny Boy" by a group of singers, by this time I had enough wine or mead or whatever they call it to make me want to go up on the stage and join in,except the wife had a tight grip on me to keep me down ??? Mauri

Hi Sylvia, Yes the cousin I met up with, his Father's name was Harry and yes he was in the Australian Army during the war, the other uncle who went to Australia from St.James was Ernie, well in fact the whole family lived in St.James prior to moving into Lisburn in the very early 30s. There was also Eileen, Desmond and Hughie. They all at one time or another went to the little school in St.James where I believe the teacher was a Mr Ingram, I drove around there several years back but the house they lived in had been demolished and the lane leading up to it overgrown with trees etc. Did you know the Stanfields who were friends of the Dawe family ?? Mauri

Mauri,
It seems you and I would have been related, if my mother had taken Harry's offer of mariage! My sister has a "love" letter that he wrote to my mother from
Egypt, there is also a picture somewhere of him. I think its probably at my sisters house in Lisburn. I once asked my mom who he was and she said "an old boyfriend" and his name was Harry Dawe, a very handsome man indeed.
We went to the little schoolhouse as little girls, my father, his brothers and sisters, also attended there, and the teacher was Mr. Ingram. Where was the house your relatives lived in?

I know the Stanfields very well, they were cousins of my father, Tommy George lived next door to us in the cottages down the road from the school and church. He had a little wood shop where he did a lot of carving, also played the bagpipes!
Sylvia.

Hi Ann and Pat,

Hope you all enjoy your weekend together. Joe and Dom will have a ball in Durty Nellies. We spent a weekend in the B&B called Bunratty Woods,we took in the Medievel Banquet which was terrific. Down the road from the Castle about 400yds.same side as Durty Nellies is another B&B and it is owned by a Lisburn exile called Bill Lowery. I understand he came back from Australia where he had been a University Professor and he and his wife set up this B&B.

Beano

Sylvia, I kind of doubt that there were two Harry Dawe's in St James so my uncle must have been the one in question.? It was my grandparents who lived there having moved out there from Belfast and before that from the south. I couldn't describe where the house was, other than it was behind Billy Stanfields and down a lane, I dont' remember it being only a baby when we moved into Lisburn. The Stanfields were great friends of another uncle Hugh. Do you
remember Iris Stanfield a young daughter she used to vist my Aunt Eileen in Lisburn, again I hope my memory is not playing tricks with me I just happened to be home from sea when she visited as I used to stay with my aunt anytime I was in Lisburn. I remember my Mother referring to Mr Ingram as Master Ingram as apparently thats what he was known as.
This is fun Sylvia, I have a little black and white picture somewhere of my Aunt Eileen and Grandmother getting into a car outside Billy Stanfields bungalow or cottage whatever you like to call it. Mauri

Mauri,
I know exactly where that house was, right next to Billy Stanfields, down that long lane. I even knew the lady who lived there, although I can't remember her name. I used to visit with my mother. Iris and my sister June get together often, we all went to school together, she is a couple of years younger than I. She had a brother Bobby who died several years ago.
Sammy Stanfield was another brother of Billy, he had a grocery store in Hillsborough, he lived with Billy and Charlotte at the cottage, down the road from our house.

You're right Mauri, this is fun. You never know who you might meet on the forum!
Sylvia.

Mauri,
I just remembered the name it was Mrs. Preen. Was that your aunt?
Sylvia.

No Sylvia, Mrs Preen was not my aunt, my Aunt Eileen didn't marry untill later in life, in fact she went back to Australia in 1968 and got married there a few years later. So you knew the Stanfields as well??, As I said Iris used to be a friend of Eileen's, good to hear that she is alive and well not sure that she would remember me? as she is so much younger. What did they call that road the Stanfields lived on?sometimes when I was a kid I used to go in Collin's grocery truck all round that area, Maze Broomhedge etc delivering groceries and I think the people in one of the houses in Broomhedge was called Law which I see is your Maiden name , would that be any connectionI think they lived at the Halfpenny Gate, also another family of Laws on the Moira Rd at Knockmore. Mauri

Hi Mauri,
I don't think the Law family you mentioned are relatives, we all hailed from around St. James.
My grandmother Law was a Stanfield. The name of the road was St. James's road.
Mrs Preen was also from the South, and lived with her 2 sons. I guess she's not a relative.

When I get some more info.I will let you know.

Sylvia.

Hi is any body out there that is still interested in the St. James Road, Hillsborough and the Stanfields who live on it. Well I am the daughter of Cassie and Stanley Gilmore who lived at the top of St James' Road connecting to Cockhill Road. My Mother was Cassie Stanfield before she was married and is a sister of Billy Stanfield. The house Uncle Billy lived in has now been knocked down and a small bungalow built in its place. My Mother passed away on 20/08/04 at the age of 86. My Father who you may remember died on 13/10/65 at the age of 52. I have a six brothers and a sister perhaps you may remember some of them:- William, Phyllis, Stanley, Derek, Morris, ,Neil and myself (Heather) I had a brother Garnet who died at the age of 2 he was born between Stanley and Derek. Iris lives in Lisburn now and her husband Ron died a few years ago, to be honest I can't remember the last time I saw her so I cannot give you any information about her, but if you would like to know anything about the 'Gilmore' family on the Cockhill Road, I would be more that happy to fill you in.



Heather

PS to my 1st E-Mail just sent I have another brother which I left out of the list, his name is Colin, so I would have had 7 brothers and 1 sister in total had Garnet lived. All the rest of the family are all living some in better health that others but we are all above the sod and that is the main thing.

Heather

Hi Heather, I don't think there is any connection though I could be wrong but my late wife Eunice was a Gilmour from Lisburn, her Father had a couple of brothers though I only knew one other one Ernie who also lived in Canada and passed away quite a few years ago.
My family were friends of the Stanfields especially my Uncle Hugh Dawe and Iris was a good friend of my Aunt Eileen. Interesting that the "Stanfields" bungalow has been replaced with another one, I expect the lane next to it where the Dawe family lived many years ago is all grown over. Do you know Molly Woods or Helen Crothers from the Hillsborough area??. Mauri